Not wanting to get into any more trouble, I was making my way back home… and it wasn't long till I arrived… I took the elevator… and made my way to kitchen… where there I saw my father in the worst state I could ever imagine him. I never knew he was this self-destructive… I saw my mother aiding to him, and Taylor on his phone. Gail on the on the other hand, came running to me hugging me. I felt awkward at first… I still wasn't used to people touch me… especially after…

'Never mind Sawyer…' Taylor said before he hung up and exhaled a large amount of air. 'She's here.'

'Where were you?' My mother asked in anger, as she came facing me… 'Did you really think on escaping?' She asked.

I let my head drop. How did she discover? What was I to tell her?

'Sera Elizabeth Grey… I want a fucking damn answer now!' She screamed in my face as he lifted it from my chin.

'Yes…' I answered back. 'It's not like you care anyways.' I finished the sentence. In a second, I felt a stinging pain on my cheek. My mother had just slapped me… for the first time… she slapped me… I held my cheek with my hand, while my eyes glistened…

'Ohh my…' My mother started as she realized what she had just done. 'I'm so sorry Sera!' she continued as she hugged me… but I didn't want any comfort from them… from neither of them. I pushed away from her, and ran straight to my room.

She moved back to the table, and held on strong to it. She was breaking… she never hit me… and now… Gail moved forward to her… and tried calming her down. Soon my mother recovered and went back aiding to my father.

'Taylor, can you help me move him to our room?' She asked gently.

'Sure Mrs. Grey…' Taylor replied, as helped Mr Grey up, and with my mother they moved him to his room. 'Do you need anything else?' He asked as they sat him in bed.

'No, thank you.' My mother replied as she started removing dad's shoes and socks, while Taylor made his way out.

I remained in my room… I was dumbstruck… my mother… she never slapped me in her life… she never laid a hand on me… I could have expected it from dad… he used to spank me back when I was younger… but my mother… she was always the one to disapprove of the corporal punishment… and now… she turned to doing that?

… and what was wrong with my father? He was definitely drunk… but I could see something else in him… anger… hatred… his eyes were dull… his face was dead yellow… did he take up drinking again? He always turned to alcohol when things went against what he believed.

I brushed my feelings quickly, and went to do my school bag… I've lost too much… I wasn't going to miss school too now… I'm used… broken… but I still have to move forward… forget this ever happened. I put up a quick mask, and held a small smile on… I had to keep this on… till I convinced myself that it's how truly I feel… it always worked… it has to work this time too…

I grabbed my phone, while still doing my bag, and called Natalie, and her mother picked up the land line.

'Hello.' She greeted.

'Hi Mrs Taylor, may I please talk to Natalie?' I asked gently.

'Who wants her…' She asked

'It's me… Sera…' I replied.

'Oh… Hi Sera…' She continued. 'How are you feeling dear?'

'I'm ok…' I faked a smile. 'I can't wait to get back to routine.'

'That's good… getting back on your feet.'

'Yeah… um… do you think I can speak to Natalie please?'

'Yes sure.' She said as I heard her call Natalie.

'This is her…' She greeted.

'Hey… they truly did take your phone! I thought they were bluffing!'

'I thought too Grey… but apparently not…' She continued as she sat down on the couch. 'Anyhow… what's up?'

'You going to school tomorrow?'

'I have never stopped going… my parents said that having a hangover is my fault, and I still have to go to school.'

'Good… I won't be alone…'

'Your parents are letting you go to school?'

'I guess so… They have… some problems right now…'

'Don't tell me!' She exclaimed…

'yeah… dad sober again…'

'Sera, why don't you talk to someone? This is not good for you!' She suggested.

'I'm fine Natalie… I'm used to this…'

'…and that's what scares me with you… you've gotten used to everything… how much is it going to take for you to realise that you're killing yourself…'

'Natalie… I'm ok… I promise…'

'What about… What about Sunday? Are you ok from that?'

She mentioned it again… It hit hard… she knew exactly what I was hiding… she knew I wasn't fine… but I was… was I?...

'Sera? You still there?' she asked as she heart the silence that was eating me.

'Um… I… I have to go…' I replied slowly. '… I'll see you tomorrow…' I finished as I hung up.

'Yeah… and that's you being fine…' She said to the engage ringing of the phone.

I decided to not even go down again for the evening… my parents wouldn't want to see me… especially dad… after what happened… from what I could hear, Flynn had dropped a visit as he had promised. I could hear him trying to reason with my father… it became more of a high-voiced argument…

Dad could be hard-headed and stubborn more than a young kid that wants to have his own way. I heard my mother's sobs seeing my father broken… she wanted to help him… but he's drowning…and worst of all… he didn't want me to be called his daughter…

I took a quick shower, and changed into my pj's… I simply wanted to sleep… rest and forget for once… before I went to bed, I took 3 diet pills… one of their major side effects was drowsiness and sleep… I didn't care anymore whether I woke up the following morning… but at least… I would have slept… I timed my alarm clock at 5.45am, to wake up and get ready… and maybe I'll see my father… and apologize… if he wanted to talk to me…

It wasn't long till they took effect… I was getting dizzier by the second… I couldn't raise my hand to fix the covers properly on me… my protein cell receptors weren't open anymore… potassium wasn't binding to them, so sodium couldn't enter the cells, increasing the threshold level, where I could feel all the pain… I smiled at the thought… I was finally blocking my responses… I finally found a way how…

My thoughts were all jumbled… my eyes were burning… and sooner than later, I entered into a deep unrestful sleep… a sleep were nightmares took over… a night were I woke up millions of times… a night were I smiled as I felt sharp pain in the cut I had done earlier…

At last I found my coping mechanism… and that was enough…